Page 62 of Tides of Shadows

“Save it for your playthings,” I said with open disdain. I took the foaming mugs and left without looking back. But I felt his gaze on my back for a long while.

Drinks crept over me, and weariness from dancing at last claimed its due. I sat near Dricus and listened to one of his men tell of battles in the south and the strange women who tried to bewitch him. I wept with laughter until my cheeks ached.

Still, I breathed in Dricus’s scent, heavy and soothing at once. Smoke, wood, and something I could not name.

I lifted my eyes and watched the hard line of his jaw, the deep green of his gaze, the unreadable expression that lent him gravity. But Dricus was avoiding me. My gaze, my touch. So that was it. Nothing more.

As I laughed at another tale, I did not know why, but some part of me drew my glance across the yard to the nobles’ table. My hidden thoughts pulled me toward him. Toward that arrogant, insufferable, possessive prick.

I watched as girl after girl circled the lords’ table. They poured wine for Aidenar, smiled at him, touched his body. He seemed entirely in his element. Always the center of attention, always in command. He found my gaze and stared back with challenge in his eyes. As if I should come to him and join the line of admirers. He would be disappointed.

But here I sat. Between a man who had rejected me and a palace rake.

Fuck that. Fuck Dricus. Fuck Aidenar. I had enough.

I walked toward the bar, and on the way I spotted a handsome, broad-shouldered man with brown hair. Without thinking much, my body given over to emotion and ale, I caught his gaze as I passed. My hair and hand brushed his body.

As I continued to push through the crowd, I felt a gentle hand stopped me. It was the same man. He pulled me close, and our bodies began to move rhythmically together. We danced to the music. I felt his hands start to roam slowly across my body. I felt my skin heat beneath his masculine touch.

I kept my hand at the nape of his neck while he slowly closed his palms around my waist. I let myself be carried by the music and desire. This was what I needed. Something uncomplicated. Something that meant nothing. I had every right. I owed nothing to anyone.

Then suddenly shouts rang across the hall.

Bottles and mugs began to fly at the nobles’ table. A brawl erupted. Tables crashed. The crowd roared, and the players’ music broke off. Chaos spread across the yard like fire. The man I had been dancing with released me from his embrace and began shouting toward his friends, who appeared to be part of the fight with the nobles.

Mayhem blazed in full force.

I saw Aidenar cutting the crowd like a blade towards us, murder carved into his expression.

The man I was with moved to strike him, but Aidenar crushed his face with one fast, almost unnatural blow. He hit the ground, and his companions rushed to help him.

Aidenar stood there. Blood dripped from his fist. His white shirt bore red stains. He looked as though he might kill everyone in the yard.

Chaos raged around us, but I heard only him.

“How many?” He stepped closer, his eyes dark as lead.

“How many men?” He took another step towards me until we stood face to face. He searched every part of my face. As if seeking answers to all his questions in my eyes.

I could not stop staring at him. Could not move. Could not breathe.

“Until you realize there is only me.”

I knew it then. I was losing myself.

Chapter

18

Istill had that night of the festival in my mind. The way Aidenar had looked at me, the hunger in his eyes, the anger in him when he punched that man to the ground. I did not know how much of it had been the wine in his veins, and how much had been truth, slipping into that moment like a forbidden thought. A day had passed since the festival, and rumors of the nobles’ brawl had already spread through the palace. Nothing new, apparently. My father, as the stories went, had himself been part of such revelries many times.

I walked beneath the palace arcades on my way to another lesson with Aidenar when I heard raised voices. I knew them both very well.

“Can you leave me in peace at last?” Aidenar’s voice cut through the silence, sharp with restraint. “Father is gone, so now you turn all of it on me.”

“Leave you in peace? Do you have any idea what’s at stake for us?” Cassandra answered frostily. “I do everything in my power to extend our Regency, and you? You do not take this seriously at all! Our chances dwindle by the day. It is time to seal the alliance with the Salvadore Family. If you continue to delay, Velena may change her mind, and we shall stand alone. The palladium mines are not enough. We need influence at court and strong alliances. Best of all would be an heir.”

I went still. The word heir clanged inside my skull.